Ask a sales trainer or a management consultant what’s needed to increase your sales productivity and you’ll get a pitch for a massive change in the way you do business.
That’s fine (hey, they have to quota, too), but in most cases you can improve sales productivity by making minor tweaks in what you’re already doing. Geoffrey James, columnist at Inc.com shares 14 easy productivity hacks for salespeople.
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By Geoffrey James
Sales Source, Inc. columnist
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Geoffrey James authors the popular Sales Source column on Inc. and has
written several books, including “Business Without The Bullsh*t” and “The
Tao of Programming.” Geoffrey spent 6 years doing market research and
product branding for a Fortune 100 company, and his combination of
writing, programming, and business acumen make him a go-to expert for
sales leaders.
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1. Tighten your lead selection criteria.
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Use your CRM system to identify the type of sales leads that tend to
convert easily to customers. Use that profile to create a lead scoring
mechanism that helps you know which of your new leads you should
pursue first. Base recently introduced Lead Scoring to make it easy
for you to prioritize the leads that are most important to your
business.
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2. Enhance your research tools.
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Periodically revisit the online tools that you’re using to find leads,
and research companies and individuals. New tools are being
introduced into the marketplace every day, so do some research…
on how to do better research.
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3. Revisit your personal network.
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Everything changes, especially in the business world. Friends and
colleagues who previously didn’t know of any prospects may know
some now. If you’ve built up a customer base; enlist their aid in
finding new customers. A while back, Paul McCord wrote about the
importance of referrals in your network for generating more
business.
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4. Clean up your CRM database.
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Because your CRM system tracks sales efforts, it can provide a
treasure-trove of data… but only if that data is updated and
accurate. Make a pass every month or so to clean out the bad data.
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5. Hone your key sales messages.
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There’s no sales message so compelling that it can’t be improved.
Every few months, revisit your core sales message, your elevator
pitch, your qualifying questions and so forth. Make your message
tighter, shorter, and thus more effective.
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6. Eliminate bad leads more quickly.
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Don’t treat prospecting as “getting as many leads as possible into
the pipeline.” Realign your thinking so that the purpose of the initial
conversation with a sales lead is for you to identify if they’re NOT a
possible customer.
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7. Reward yourself for DISqualifying
leads.
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Every lead that you eliminate from your list is a victory, because it
means you won’t be wasting your time. Celebrate the winnowing
process because if you do it well you’ll only have hot prospects in
your pipeline.
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8. Flush out the competition more
quickly.
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By definition, a fully qualified lead is going to buy…either from you or
your competitor. Ask the prospect who else is calling on them and
if there’s a threat, accelerate and adapt your sales activities to
compensate.
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9. Create and update a sales campaign
document.
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The most frequent reason sales reps are outsold is that they didn’t
talk to the right people – and the competitor did. Research,
understand and (most importantly) document the prospect’s
decision-making process.
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10. Improve your follow-through.
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Many deals have been lost simply because the sales professional
forgets to follow up on a commitment. If you make a commitment,
log it in your schedule, and make sure that you do it, no matter
what.
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11. Sell just a little bit deeper and just a
bit broader.
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Continue to research and understand your customers until you find
additional ways that your firm can help that prospect. As you find
these, either work to have them added to the current deal, or
position them as the next element in your sales campaign.
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12. Stop discounting.
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Contrary to popular belief, discounts can slow the sales process
down by introducing questions about quality. Rather than dropping
your price to make the sale, build the case that what you’re
providing is unique enough to command a premium price.
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13. Spend LESS time on each account.
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Make your interactions with each customer more intense and
concentrated. Schedule multiple meetings on a single visit. Use
web-conferencing to reach remote individuals. Provide a greater
level of contact, but spend fewer work-hours doing it.
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14. Work backwards from the buying
decision.
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As you learn more about the steps in your customer’s buying
process, schedule your activities around those steps so that you
spend the right amount of time (neither more nor less) developing
the opportunity.
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